Africa Squeaks
Africa Squeaks is a 1940 American animated cartoon in the Looney Tunes series starring Porky Pig. It was directed by Bob Clampett, animated by John Carey, Dave Hoffman, Izzy Ellis, Norman McCabe, and Vive Risto, with musical direction by Carl Stalling. The cartoon is a parody of the movie Stanley and Livingstone starring Spencer Tracy and Cedric Hardwicke. The title parodies the 1930 documentary Africa Speaks!. Plot synopsis The narrator introduces the audience to Africa. The journey begins in the heart of Darkest Africa. Porky Pig is leading a group of African people as they sing, carrying items. Then, during their song, they sing "We don't know where we're going, but we're going!". Meanwhile, a sign says, "Welcome to Africa Lions Club". Then, Porky and the Africans approach a sour-pussed caricature of Spencer Tracy named Stanley. Stanley presumes that Porky is Dr. Livingstone, but Porky tells him his name. Stanley shrugs and lets Porky and the Africans continue marching. The narrator tells the audience that during their journey, they saw interesting specimen of wild life. An ostrich has put his head into a hole. Underground, the ostrich is actually sleeping on a pillow. Meanwhile, two lions are eating bones of their prey. The second lion gets a columba, and together, the two lions grab the ends of the bone. The lion says "Make a wish", and after breaking the bone, they continue eating. High in the tree tops, a mother monkey is taking her baby for a breath of fresh air. The mother is using her tail to swing her baby is if in a carriage. Meanwhile, emerging out of the grass comes a gorilla, and as it turns around, it reveals itself to be a caricature of Tony Galento with a beer, saying that he'll "moider da bum". A native is seen using a blowgun to "put meat on the table". Just then, it is revealed that the native is playing a carnival-related game to win a ham. The person in charge (with Mel Blanc's voice imitating Rochester from The Jack Benny Program) gives the native a ham to put meat on the table. Later, after nightfall, the narrator says that at night, the African jungle is filled with silence, but noises start being heard. A tired Porky pops his head out of his tent, and yells to the animals "QUIET!", and goes back to sleep. Meanwhile, Stanley is still looking for Dr. Livingstone. He looks in a mother kangaroo's pouch, only to be honked on the nose by her baby. The next day, the Africans and Porky resume their march. A tree has a poster that is a re-election poster for "King of the Jungle". Meanwhile, the explorers come upon a very unusual situation. A cat kicks an elephant out of her house, and until he can pay his rent, she'll be keeping his trunk. Then the elephant, now without his trunk, starts crying and says that his trunk has all his stuff in it. A vulture is looking for food. He sees three baby deer who wandered away from their mother. The vulture starts charging at them, and the deer run into a clump of grass. Just then, the grass lowers, as the deer use "Air Raid" on the vulture. They shoot down the vulture, and the deer laugh in a villainous manner. Back with Porky, a little African native is running, yelling "Two arms!", and random gibberish. He points to the village, as the narrator says that the boy says that the villagers have spotted a strange white man in the village. Porky then drags Stanley over to the village, as the narrator says that his journey is finally over. Stanley presumes that the white man is Dr. Livingstone. The white man reveals himself to be "Cake-Icer", as he is a music teacher (a reference to Kay Kyser). He asks the students if he's right, and then a monkey comes out of Stanley's hat saying "Yeah!" many times. Cake-Icer wants everyone to dance, and music starts with an elephant using his trunk like a tuba. Everybody starts dancing, including two fat Africans. The narrator says that after a long day, they decide to return home. Then, Porky and the Africans start running, as the Africans are singing a different song this time. The narrator says his farewell to Africa, and then the actual continent waves goodbye. Cast *Mel Blanc as Porky Pig, Stanley, Cake-Icer, Africans, Lion, Cat, Elephant, Africa, Galento Gorilla, Deer, Carnival African, Kangaroo *Robert C. Bruce as the Narrator Crew *'Director:' Bob Clampett *'Producer:' Leon Schlesinger *'Musical Direction:' Carl Stalling *'Orchestrator:' Milt Franklyn (uncredited) *'Film Editor:' Treg Brown (uncredited) *'Sound Effects:' Treg Brown *'Animation:' John Carey, Dave Hoffman, Izzy Ellis (uncredited), Norm McCabe (uncredited), Vive Risto (uncredited) Gallery Trivia Censorship *The redrawn colorized version seen on Nickelodeon severely edited this cartoon to remove all the sequences of the African American natives, and the ending replaced the shot of Africa as a blackfaced caricature bidding farewell to the viewer with a repeat of the opening pan from Dark Africa to Darkest Africa. External links * * Category:Shorts Category:Films Category:Animated shorts Category:Warner Bros. shorts Category:Looney Tunes shorts Category:Looney Tunes Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons Category:Warner Bros. Animation Category:Porky Pig Category:Porky Pig shorts Category:1940 shorts Category:1940 films Category:Leon Schlesinger Studios Category:Leon Schlesinger Productions Category:Produced by Leon Schlesinger Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger Category:Black-and-white shorts Category:Black-and-white cartoons Category:Black-and-white Category:Black and White shorts Category:Black and White cartoons Category:Black and White films Category:Black-and-white films Category:Black and White Category:1940 Category:1940s films Category:1940s shorts Category:1940s Category:Vitaphone short films